Sitting across from Chi at the dining room table Loe was sipping at a glass of his red wine. Tyson had gone to his room leaving the two of them alone together. They were not sure what he walked off for but Loe did know that whatever it was he would be back before long. From the way that Tyson acted he could see clearly that Tyson would not simply leave him alone with Chi for long without a care. The young man in front of Loe was already chowing down on large chunks of dried meat that he had kept stored up in his pantry.
Every year he always had the habit of refreshing his pantry as necessary in case of Tyson's return. Not requiring fresh food he had no worry of food poisoning but he still enjoyed the taste of the finest things he could get. Whether it was drinks, food, or his personal belongings he ensured only the best quality. His only bad habit was his wine so he'd always kept that under lock and key so that nothing over the years would accidentally happen to Tyson if the man accidentally got hold of it.
"If you don't mind me asking," Chi started to speak to him causing Loe to suddenly snap back to reality in front of him. "you're part of Numen's Garden.. so why do you help Tyson? Aren't you suppose to.. you know.."
"Kill him?" Loe finished the words that he could tell the young man was too nervous to ask. It did not surprise him that the question came up. He had wondered himself at times why he bothered with the man so much. When they had met he had initially planned on putting Tyson down cleanly like he had many others over his existence.
"Yes." Chi responded back knowing that his question was already out there made him nervous. Everything about Loe made him nervous because he was unreadable. The look in Loe's eyes was always dead and emotionless no matter what he said or did.
"I couldn't do it. When I met him ten years ago I simply could not do that to him." Loe simply said as a smile began to sweep across his face at the memory of it.
"What do you mean?" Chi asked him while putting down the dried meat in his hand.
"Young one, everyone who comes to the garden started out with a family or something they left behind.. When that boy came stumbling in front of my village and collapsed I did intend to put him down but I couldn't. I had done it so many times before but there was something about him. I can't explain it and I wont explain the things I lost when my life was taken from me in this place.. If you must ask you can just take it as that boy is like a son to me. I do not want to see him fall victim to this place but.. that probably already happened before he met me." Loe thought long and hard over how emotionally damaged Tyson was the first time they met. A young boy who would wake up screaming in a cold sweat every night because the final moments he'd seen his sister haunted him too heavily.
"I can't imagine him looking that weak.. He's so.." Chi thought out loud as he tried to picture the image of Tyson weak and unable to move. It sounded more like himself then Tyson. Nothing about the man seemed weak to him at all.
"No matter how strong you may think he is you're wrong. Even the strongest of heroes in fairy tales still feel pain. There is no such thing as true immortality. Life may be sweet but in the end it will always hold a bitterness that one must push past in order to find that sweetness once again." Loe sipped on his wine while looking at the young man.
"I didn't mean anything by that.. I just can't picture it given how he is." Chi tried to defend himself from his own remark that Tyson couldn't be weak in the past. Worried that he might have seemed insulting when he spoke.
"I know you didn't. If you want to know more about him.. why don't you just ask him yourself?" Loe suggested knowing well that Tyson was the type who kept things bottled to himself. It was the first time in ten years that he had seen Tyson take someone under his wing. If anyone would be able to break past that man's emotional stone wall he felt it would be the one he'd thrown his own solitude aside to protect. Loe cared about Tyson as if they had a parent-child relationship but he still did not know anything about Tyson's private life. He had no information he could give Chi about the man other then the days that they'd spent together training or the following years when he would stop by the village to visit because Loe gave him the closest thing to a normal life within the garden.
"How would I do that? He even hides his face behind that mask.." Chi could not imagine someone who hid their face all the time as someone who would just openly talk about themselves.
Loe pondered over the thought for a moment. He knew that Tyson would not be an easy one for anyone to crack. The only thing he wanted for Tyson while the man was still breathing was for him to find comfort in his life somewhere. If Chi could get the man to open up he was certain he could begin to see the world in a new light that he had long given up on. There was still hope for Tyson to find joy in something because he could still see the obvious signs that the man still wanted to find something to cling on to in his life. It was like he was lost and searching for something. Lifting his finger up into the air he leaned in closer to Chi before speaking once again.
"I've got an idea but you'll need to listen to me carefully now. If you get any answers from him it will depend entirely on you." Loe smiled brightly at his idea for the young man. The idea he had for him the young man would have to be careful because he knew Tyson could easily take it the wrong way if Chi was not careful. Tyson did not like people prying into his private life regardless of who they were.